Penn State playing the waiting game as spring practice opens

Two of the Nittany Lions' anticipated playmakers are months away from taking the field.

Penn State linebacker Nyeem Wartman runs a drill during the team's first day of NCAA college football spring practice on Monday, March 18, 2013, in State College, Pa. (Centre Daily Times -- Abby Drey)

Penn State's high-profile positions battles this spring feature key competitors unable to do more than watch and wait.

Dallastown linebacker Ben Kline will watch from the practice field while recovering from shoulder surgery.

Quarterback Christian Hackenberg will be playing baseball and finishing his high school education at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. He will take in as many Nittany Lion spring practices as possible.

But both could still be major players in Penn State's 2103 plans.

They'll just have to catch up quickly, unable to prove themselves on the field until preseason camp opens in early August.

Kline is a redshirt sophomore linebacker who has been only a special teams grunt and backup defender so far.

Penn State tight ends Adam Breneman and Brent Wilkerson run a drill during the team's first day of NCAA college football spring practice on Monday, March 18, 2013, in State College, Pa. (Centre Daily Times -- Abby Drey)

However, with the graduation losses of stars Mike Mauti and Gerald Hodges, these spring workouts were supposed to be the ideal opportunity for him to make a move.

Instead, he will miss the next month while rehabbing.

"We don't have a lot of depth at linebacker, that's for sure," coach Bill O'Brien said Monday, as snow was falling outside and his team was preparing to work out inside on opening day.

O'Brien will count on returning starter and senior Glenn Carson in the middle and junior Mike Hull on the outside. But that third linebacking spot? That should be a battle between Kline and Nyeem Wartman, who started off quickly last season as a true freshman before being sidelined by a knee injury.

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Now, Wartman will get the early edge.

Meanwhile, even more eyes will be on the new quarterbacks.

While sophomore Steven Bench and junior college transfer Tyler Ferguson will share the bulk of practice reps leading up to the Blue-White Game on April 20, Hackenberg will still be in the starting mix, O'Brien said.

Hackenberg, arguably the nation's top prep quarterback, arrives on campus in June.

And he will be in the middle of another growth spurt, pushing him to nearly 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds.

O'Brien said he will go with the best player at every position, regardless of age or experience.

"So, yeah, Christian will come in, and we'll teach him the offense and give him some reps and see how he does, certainly. ... We don't really look at anybody and say, 'We are definitely going to redshirt you.'"

While Bench and Ferguson will be running Penn State practice, Hackenberg will be working on the Penn State playbook from home, getting quizzed by his father, Erick, a former college quarterback.

"I think Christian will be fine, and I'll tell you why," his father said. "Christian has learned three different offenses in the last three years of high school. Each year was a brand new offense with new reads and new formations.

"One thing I've learned about Christian over the last year and a half is how quickly he picks things up."

He also flourished at elite camps and showcases in the offseason, which forced even more quick-learn offenses and play-calling language.

"I think he's coming (to Penn State) a little differently, in respect to preparation, than any (quarterback) they've had in the last few years. It's because of what he's had the opportunity to do," Erick Hackenberg said.

Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien talks to Alex Kenney and other wide receivers as they run a drill during the team's first day of NCAA college football spring practice on Monday, March 18, 2013, in State College, Pa. (Centre Daily Times -- Abby Drey)

In the meantime, Penn State's offense will be in the hands of Bench, a coach's son from Georgia, and Ferguson, who arrived from California only two months ago.

"It's fun when you're working with the type of guys we're working with now," O'Brien said of his quarterbacks. "It's a smart (meeting) room, a hungry room. They listen, they ask great questions. They really want to be coached.

"Steven knows it a little bit better than Tyler right now because he's been in here for a year. ... (But) now, it's going to depend on how well they can make decisions and how accurately they can throw the football."

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Baublitz's big chance: Central York's Kyle Baublitz, a redshirt junior defensive tackle, will be gunning for his first starting role, this time next to senior DaQuan Jones.

Baublitz is a "really smart guy, on and off the field," O'Brien said. "A tough, very tough player. He practices hard, plays hard, does everything you ask him to do. ... We rotate a lot of guys in and out of that position, and he'll definitely be in that rotation as long as he continues to improve."

New leaders: Though they lost their most outspoken leaders to graduation, O'Brien said he is not concerned. "I think it's more that every year's different."

So from the beginning, he will look to Carson, senior guard John Urschel and junior defensive back Adrian Amos.